Asia Tour
Klaus Mäkelä
Janine Jansen Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) was an eager student of Liszt’s symphonic poems in the 1890s. Among the fruits of this inspiration was Lemminkäinen, a symphonic poem in four parts which was performed for the first time in 1896. The work is based on stories about Lemminkäinen, one of the heroes in the Finnish national epic poem Kalevala. The best-known movement,The Swan of Tuonela, is performed at this concert. 

Jean Sibelius started violin lessons when he was 14 years old and was soon completely absorbed by the instrument. In the next decade, he dreamed of becoming a concert violinist, but eventually, he gave up and focused instead on composition. Sibelius' Violin Concerto became his unhappy declaration of love for the violin, and the first version was so technically difficult that the soloists did not master the challenges. 

In 1904 Jean Sibelius and his family moved to his new home in the city of Järvenpää, a few miles north of Helsinki. In the spring of 1915, he had one of his most substantial natural experiences when he saw 16 swans taking off in a flock on one of his walks. The incident directly inspired the "swan theme" in his fifth symphony, which premiered in Helsinki on the composer's 50th birthday in December of the same year.